Sunday, April 10, 2016

5 reasons Harry Potter is totally libertarian

1. Harry
himself, the hero and protagonist of the story, is always challenging authority
and ignoring the rules. He breaks curfew constantly.He uses magic over summer break when he’s not
allowed to. He flies his broom when he’s not supposed to, and makes repeated
ventures into the “Forbidden Forest.” He rides a flying car when people tell
him it isn’t safe. In each case, he breaks the rules in a heroic and justifiable way, with good
intentions that the reader sympathizes with.

2. Harry even
raises and trains a private militia (Dumbledore’s Army), without the
government’s knowledge or approval, to fight off bad guys the state is
incapable of protecting him from. That militia then fights a major battle, with
privately owned weapons, to successfully defend their castle from enemy
invaders. What could be more libertarian than that?

3. The government in the story – the Ministry of Magic – is fighting against Harry
the whole way. State run newspapers slander him. Attendance at school is made
compulsory as a misguided and unpopular attempt to keep track of the kids.
Azkaban is an oppressive state prison with horrible conditions and regular
torture, in which not all the prisoners are bad guys who deserve to be there.
The government is inept at best, and infiltrated with corrupt death eaters at
worst. When Harry tries to spread a startling truth (Voldemort’s return) which
runs contrary to government interests, he is silenced and ridiculed and made to
appear crazy by the state run press. When a private school (Hogwarts) is found
to be conducting its business in a way the government doesn’t like, the
government creates a “Hogwarts High Inquistor” position to meddle with their
affairs and ensure they toe the line. All the government characters are
presented in a negative light; Cornelius Fudge as a bumbling fool, Dolores
Umbridge as a dishonest and infuriatingly authoritarian busybody, and Percy
Weasley as a naïve sucker who buys into it all.

4. The
protagonists are liberal on all the social issues. The muggle/wizard dichotomy
is a clear microcosm for racism, with lots of analogies to Nazi Germany thanks
to the “pureblood” rhetoric of the despised Malfoy family and Slytherin House. The
reader sees how ridiculous this is throughout, however, since the smartest and
most competent of them all is Hemionie, who is mixed blood. Speaking of
Hermione, she is also a trailblazer for women’s rights, who encounters and
overcomes sexist putdowns at every turn. Arguably the most beloved character, Dumbledore,
is homosexual. Werewolf infection is treated similarly to HIV infection, or
even leprosy, in that we are made to sympathize with the social castigation it
causes. The reader also sympathizes with the enslaved House Elves, and
Hermionie’s relentless social advocacy for their rights reinforces the themes
of liberty, diversity, tolerance, and empathy which drive the leftist half of
libertarian thought. The series is also anti-torture and anti-death penalty: only
the bad guys use the crucio or avada kedavra spells. Harry himself only
kills Voldemort in self-defense by deflecting his own spell against him. You
could even argue it’s anti-war by illustrating the pain of losing friends in a
major battle.

5. Finally,
there are conservative market themes as well, most notably the constant
competition. A major plot line in each book is the running competitions for
House Points. In addition, the houses compete against one another in Quidditch,
which provides much of the excitement and drama. The magic schools compete
between one another at the Triwizard Tournament. The students compete with one
another for acclaim, respect and social standing (most notably Harry and Draco) and also for girls (most
notably Harry and Cedric). Besides the competition, the whole book takes place
at a private school, which nevertheless has voluntary programs in place to help
students from low-income families (like Ron Weasley and Tom Riddle) attend. There
are lots of little mom-and-pop stores that sell potentially dangerous items,
and yet seem refreshingly unregulated. And Ron Paul would be pleased to see
that the wizarding world still deals in gold-backed currency!It's been a while since I've read the books, so maybe my readers will recall even more libertarian details. In any case, the Harry Potter series was one of my favorites growing up, so I'm pleased it's had such an influence on the moral outlooks of my generation.